Improving Health Care Experience - Essay Example

Health Care Experience Narrative For this assignment, I interview a first time mother on her first child experience. Contrary to my expectations, my single most exciting experience in life was childbirth. Prior to my pregnancy, listening to other mothers talk about childbirth traumatized me. I felt bombarded by too much negative information regarding childbirth to the extent of swearing to myself that ‘I will never give birth’. However, deep inside I knew that I needed a child of my own and did not at any time consider surrogacy arrangement. Clearly, I had to carry my own child in my own womb since I wanted to experience as it conception to birth and throughout the pregnancy, I made efforts to learn and visit the hospital as much as possible to have my pregnancy condition checked. Occasionally, the nurse mentioned that childbirth needed not to be a traumatizing or life threatening experience. On the contrary, I had the power and control to make my labor free from pain and suffering, and ensure that it brought a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction. Unfortunately for me, my waters broke four weeks before the due date and I rushed to the hospital. Throughout my pregnancy, I had heard and bumped into information concerning the water breaking and even worse, not experiencing labor for two days after admission. I admit I was not only anxious, but also very worried. I remember my nurses kept checking on me after every 24 hours, and checked on my child’s heartbeat to ensure all was well. All they told me was that I had to wait for 48 hours to see if I would go into labor without induction. Then, my nurses kept checking on temperatures after every four hours, my baby’s movements, and any changes in the color and smell of the amniotic fluid. During this time, my anxiety denied me the opportunity to ever get into labor naturally, yet my heart had decided I did not need any induced labor as well. Within this confusion, I focused so much on what other women advised me was the best way to deal with such a situation, ‘insist to get into labor naturally, since most of these nurses do not care about the pain or trauma you go through during induced labor’. Worst still, the women exaggerated the fact that allowing induced-labor would make my baby to be born prematurely which was a disadvantage, and untrue at 34 weeks. However, no one ever mentioned about the risks associated with the long waits of your body not yielding to natural labor pains such as needing a caesarean or the child being infected. Like many other women, I thought that having a totally labor pain free childbirth would be a very satisfying experience, thus no need for induced-labor. Even after my admission to hospital with broken water, I never had any contractions for two days and it is then that I went into talks with the doctors to discuss induced labor. Much of the negative information that I had gathered during my years of life involved the traumatic pain women experience upon being induced into labor. This was not a decision that I had to make immediately as fear and tension ran down my spine and unawares, I was already shivering. I was given several hours with my maternity nurses and doctors who provided me with great experiences some of them had gone through and other patients they had assisted just like me. The whole time, I was being advised that my baby and I were not safe because without the water, the baby was under the risk of infections, mostly bacterial infections. My courage came from a male nurse who said that there is no great achievement and satisfaction in life comparable to one that brings a sense of personal control and accomplishment. Meditating on these words, I realized that I had a great relationship with the nurses and doctors around me since they all gave their all to be kind to me, provide reliable information, respect my decision and refute respectfully too, and providing me the chance to participate in the decisions concerning my care. It was then that I decided to be counted an achiever for my enduring induced labor pain to bring my bundle of joy to the world. I stopped worrying about what I would feel or what other women before me had felt and decided to concentrate on holding my baby in my arms regardless of how was born. For the hour prior the induced-labor, I was given the manual Childbirth without Fear[ CITATION Dic06 \l 1033 ]. With just minutes of scanning through the manual, I learnt that as a woman, my body was designed to give birth. However, the body is held back by the mind through fear and tension[ CITATION Jam13 \l 1033 ]. Although the artificially induced hormones used to stimulate my labor brought on strong contractions, I decided not to feel the pain or become scared. I switched off from the world and concentrated on my little baby girl and even talked to her. The pain grew more intense, but I decided not to get distracted. I do not remember myself pushing, but I remember being absolutely overjoyed between contractions and suddenly, my baby girl was just there. Listening to my story, you might think that I was just lucky or assume that I am a smug hippie. However, the fact that I faced my worst moments without fear and tension took away my agony. I admit that I experienced discomfort during the entire time, but I decided to perceive it positively and differently since I found it easier to focus on the goal instead. For me, looking back at that time is like looking back at utopia. And despite my being negatively informed perception regarding induced-labor, I am sure this approach blocked out lots of stress for me. In the end, I confess that it really does not matter because my little bundle of joy remains the greatest source of happiness to this day. Reflective Appraisal for the Narrative Personal Reflection Listening to the interview would have made me doubt the reality of experiencing a labor-pain free birth despite premature breaking of the water. When asked, most women would pay to learn how to achieve this goal and have as many children as they would love to have. However, it takes great courage and confidence in self-accomplishment, than taking any available labor pain relieving drugs. As women, childbirth is innate and unless inhibited by other circumstances, bodies normally adjust to the changing times for the sake of the intended purpose. I like the confession that the interviewee’s decision not to get into induced labor was followed by discussions on why the induced labor option was crucial and viable then. This is a great demonstration of patient involvement in the decisions regarding their care. The fact that the doctors and nurses did not force her into induced labor provided time for meditation and gathering of information to clear any doubts and take the first step of her awaiting challenge without coercion. This compares to Barnes & Cotterell [CITATION Bar12 \p 74 \n \t \l 1033 ] argument against powerless patient groups not being involved in decisions to decide the quality of their lives and not having their voices heard, such that they are part of the community they live in and not remain as strangers. Additionally, the doctors in the narrative did not depend on hearsay information to counsel the interviewee. On the contrary, they used real-life experiences; both private and public, to further elaborate the need for induced-labor. Such conduct embraces evidence-based design (EBD) through its concepts, practices, and methods required to establish customer oriented health care services[ CITATION Bat07 \l 1033 \m Moc12]. In this case, the patient changed their approach to induced labor pain following the interaction with the nurses and doctors upon conviction that induced labor was fit for the purpose, was reliable, and that the entire experience would be satisfactory and commendable for the sake of the unborn child and mother. Professional reflection I would rate the quality of the service provided to this patient as satisfactory. First, instead of taking the decision to have the patient induced into labor without their consent, the hospital staff sought to have discussions with the patient regarding the situation. Again, the hospital staff is respectful and kind to the interviewee to the extent of continually assessing her health and that of the baby despite her ignorant attitude. Through their respect for their duties, it is clear that the nurses embrace patient participation on change and improvement of their pregnancy situation. Instead of seeking to listen to the patient’s experience, the health personnel sought to influence user experience using valid evidence based findings and lessons learnt from their lives as health professionals. Secondly, user participation presented a challenge to the healthcare professionals because the patient’s pre-informed decision delayed health intervention. For the unborn baby and the mother, such delays posed a risk of infections such as bacterial infections. Other risks included emotional risks such as psychological anxieties for the mother. For the nurses, the impact of pre-informed patients on health care quality field is worthy research, especially since patients belong to different ethnic groups with differences in culture, traditions, and values[CITATION Nol07 \p 70 \l 1033 \m Cou11]. In addition, the advent and continued growth of the internet has led to too much health information online and accessible to the public. However, more emphasis should be done such that patients understand the need to seek medically approved advice and information regarding their health situations. Such research should involve the victims as co-researchers such that their input first-hand information and experiences that is valid and reliable for the purpose of improving user experience. Consequently, patients informed from reliable health sources can then use their knowledge to treat minor conditions, choose health providers appropriately, monitor symptoms as they undergo treatment, and promote the adoption of healthy behaviors that prevent disease re-occurrence. With the right information, the outcomes include improved patient’s experience, service utilization and costs, and better health behavior and status as evident in the narrative. Theoretical Reflection Besides promoting broader patient involvement in healthcare, the narrative promotes the aspect of collaboration. Through collaboration, both the patient and the nurses engage in shared decision making and patient activation. Patient activation is evident in that the patient at the end demonstrates skills, willingness, and ability to manage and control own health care and health experience. It is through activation that the patient also improves her health outcomes and those of her child and also lowers costs that could have been associated with the resulting infection to her and the unborn owing to much delay into induced labor. Again, during the discussions with the health care professionals, the narrative demonstrates that the patient together with the professionals considered treatment options and medical evidence supporting those options. The patient also admits having not heard about the increased risk of infection associated with delayed induced labor. However, upon discussion with the nurses, she has a clear picture of the health benefits and risks of her decision and preference. It is then that she arrives at the decision to engage in induced labor without coercion, but with a well informed mind regarding the benefits of her decision. In order to emphasize the benefits of shared decision making, the nurses also used decision aids such as manuals to provide the patient with additional information on the risks and benefits of various treatment options. The manual also provided information that made the patient make a decision that most reflected their personal values [CITATION Gre11 \t \l 1033 ]. From the narrative, although far much more time and resources were used to influence to make the best healthcare decision, it was critical for true change in patient’s mindset and attitude during that situation and the future. For the patient, expert-reviewed medical materials would serve the best informing role. References CITATION Dic06 \l 1033 : , (Dick-Read, 2006), CITATION Jam13 \l 1033 : , (James, 2013), CITATION Bar12 \p 74 \n \t \l 1033 : , (2012, p. 74), CITATION Bat07 \l 1033 \m Moc12: , (Bate & Robert, 2007; Mockford, Staniszewska, Griffiths, & Herron-Marx, 2012), CITATION Nol07 \p 70 \l 1033 \m Cou11: , (Nolan, Hanson, & Grant, 2007, p. 70; Coulter, 2011), CITATION Gre11 \t \l 1033 : , (Greenhalgh, Humphrey, & Woodward, 2011), Read More